The Six Most Epic One Man Armies in the History of War: #5 Jack G. Hanson

Here’s a handful of men (6) who absolutely refused to go gently, instead opting to erupt violence like a volcano onto everything around them. I’ll post their stories individually.

#5. Jack G. Hanson

In 1951, after a year of fighting in Korea, the United Nations forces were at a stalemate with the North Korean Army and the People’s Liberation Army, led by Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong, respectively.

In the middle of all this was Jack G. Hanson, a machine gunner in the 31st Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Hanson and the rest of the men of F Company were dug into a hill which, on the night of June 7, 1951, came under attack from a vast force of North Korean infantry. Knowing that there was no way they could stand and fight, the Americans withdrew, leaving Hanson and four other men as a rear guard to cover the retreat.

The Rampage

The aforementioned four other men with Hanson all got wounded in the attack and were forced to crawl to safety, leaving just Hanson and his machine gun standing in the face of an unstoppable human wave, spitting hot lead death.

Nobody really knows for sure what happened next, since all the Americans had withdrawn and the North Koreans were either dead or otherwise unavailable for comment. What we do know is that two hours later the Americans counterattacked and retook the position, where they found Hanson’s body in front of his machine gun nest with all his ammo expended. In his right hand was an empty pistol and in his left was a machete covered in blood.

In front of him lay approximately 22 dead enemy soldiers, riddled with bullets and stab holes.

So, yeah. You can fill in your own story there. Just know that it won’t be as [cool] as what actually happened.